Why Should Augusta National Golf Club Have to Add Women Members?

Since when did Augusta National Golf Club’s perfectly legal membership policies become the business of every interest group and politician in America?

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney joined President Obama today in arguing that women should be admitted to the Augusta National Golf Club. “Certainly if I were a member, if I could run Augusta, which isn’t likely to happen, of course I’d have women into Augusta,” Romney said. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich chimed in on Twitter, saying his wife “would be a great member.”

Does every school, class and club in America need to have representatives from both sexes present to be legit? Do men have to take a woman along for poker night? Do women need to have a guy along for a girl’s night out? That’s why all of this political grandstanding is so ridiculous. There’s no more reason for Augusta to have female members than there would be for Wellesley College to become a coed college if that’s not the direction it wants to go in. If the men at Augusta want to have female members, that’s their call, but it shouldn’t be forced upon them — and happily, they seem like they’re going to keep standing tall on the issue.

As an American, it does my heart good to see the nags at NOW, the Democrat President, and the Republican candidates for President howling at a business that is essentially telling all of them that they can turn their complaints sideways and shove it. That spirit of defiance in the face of presumptuous, know-nothing politicians is part of what made this a great country in the first place.